The most beautiful cities in Austria

Welcome to one of Europe’s most beautiful countries. Austria’s landscapes, regions and townscapes provide almost the full range of European variety in the centre of the continent. Austria is often associated, rightly, with winter sports, but there is so much more on offer. Its alpine areas are rugged and picturesque, but that’s far from being the whole story.

Wels

Wels has Roman remains and it was important in the medieval period, when a stone fortress was enlarged in the 13th century and again in the 16th. It's one of two castles in the historical town centre.

The elongated main square Stadtplatz, with the Ledererturm gate tower at one end, is the centrepiece with its Baroque facades. Part of its streetscape is the Stadtpfarrkirche, redecorated from Gothic but preserving a Romanesque portal and small aristocratic mausoleum.